Shallow
by Mad Boy Poet
Summary: A story of the struggle of relationships for the power-hungry and lustful creatures called Alichino. Lord Yui is drawn by a vague but devastating force towards his maid, Dinah. Which will eventually be enthroned - his dark hunger, or his agonising love?
1. Memory

**Animal grunts of pain and pleasure, rolling together in one terrible tremor. Like thunder - but worse.**

**Superfluous drops of scarlet dew. The girl, dead.**

**I would shiver as a sudden cold embraced my skin.**

**A cacophony I suffered through the night. Each night. Every night. Darkness enfolding me, like his arms - like the great black wings of my devil's back.

* * *

**

He is not a kind man. Nor really is he a brutal man either, though his looks are incredibly cruel. He is neither good, nor evil, beautiful, nor monstrous - in fact, he is not really even a man. Undoubtedly - and it has to be admitted - he is a sad, tormented and twisted creature, overrun with power and a desire and insatiable loneliness.

All through my life I had sought to fill the void that this solitude had gauged in his heart. I loved him. I adored him. There was not a thing I would not do to have his grave angel's smile descend upon me.

But it was all in vain; I could never give him whatever it was he wanted, could never show him what he longed to see. Yet I still loved him. And it is my bitterest shame that that love has but grown since that time, when I thought time would indeed wither it! I still yearn to heal his scars…But never will I dote on him again, as I did before - I cannot, ever since that day…when I found out what he truly was…

More often that not, it would be a young maiden that arrived back at the manor, draped over his arm. She would usually be around my age, possibly younger in some cases. Vile snake, siren, whore; in truth, he was more like these than she. _He_ was the tempter, the serpent with the silver tongue. But I could not see past my own envy. I refused to realise what he was doing, only acknowledging that he was in the company of other women - and not me - which left a sickening taste in my mouth.

Funny, I can still taste the evil flavour in me…after all these years, I never got used to it. To not being good enough.

There are events - particular and strange - which have always haunted me since their occurrence. I was but a maid, a servant, with no status and importance. But he saw me. And yes, I may not have been a significant presence in his life, but my master…my master _saw_ me. Thus, for reasons unfathomable, I was allowed to witness these things silently - as if I was trusted enough to do so.

Here is a record of **unreality**; this is a mark of my **betrayal**.

I hope you are not reading this, **My Treasured Lord Yui**.


	2. Restless

**Dinah**

I remember one day clearer than any others. My master had returned in the middle of a sweltering summer afternoon; his decorative robes would be heavy, his long black hair would be damp, dense, due to the humidity.

But he showed no discomfort as he glided past me, the tails of his darkly patterned overcoat drifting behind him. He turned to me, and smiled, but said nothing as he drifted up the spiralling stairs. I knew the routine well; he would go and take his bath, and wait until evening fell. The lass he had chosen would come to the door at some ungodly hour; I would let her in and the Lord would immediately meet her, and steal her away into the depths of his vast chambers - to his bedroom, a place that had always been forbidden to me.

A secret part of me longed to see it, probably because I was not permitted to. I also did not want to accept that there was something he hid from me.

"Dinah!" I started at the sound of my master's voice, compulsively flattening my maid's skirt and apron. There was a rapid flurry of silk at the bottom of the staircase as the Lord of our city spun around the banister in his haste. The cloak settled, and his dark ribbons of hair fell about him again; hanging loose, instead of tied back in their usual ponytail. He looked a bit dishevelled, but even more stunning. A restless beauty. "Dinah!" he cried again, even though I was but a few metres from him. I took a few half-steps in his direction, head down.

"Yes, milord?"

"Where is my obsidian hairpin? Did you lose it while you were cleaning, per chance? Or perhaps you tried to pilfer it?" he said sharply, his piercing eyes more accusatory than his words could ever be. I furrowed by brow a little, to stop the shameful tears that were welling in me - as if I were a child being scolded.

"Why, of course not, Lord Yui. I would never do such a thing!"

"Well then, where is it if not with you?"

"It is on the glass table in the tower, as where you left it yesterday evening." The puzzled aristocrat then froze just for a moment, then broke into a toothy smile - eyes glimmering.

"Thank you, Dinah. What would I do without you?" He gave an amused chuckle, ready to return upstairs, when his eye caught something on me. They lingered for a moment, and then his hands were reaching out to my chest. I grimaced - but then realised my open locket, hanging outside of my uniform. Lord Yui delicately picked up the silver pendant while his eyes burrowing deep into the photo it held.

"Who is this?" he asked, eyes unyielding.

"My younger sister, Marie." I did not mean for my voice to be as low, or as weak. A different smile altogether found his perfect lips. Those smiles were always completely unlike the ones he gave me.

"She's absolutely stunning. Yes, quite gorgeous." A sound, a sigh, of satisfaction. "Be sure to invite her over sometime. This house is yours too." Gently he replaced the locket around my neck. As he pulled his hand away though, a finger caught on a lock of my hair. Fiercely he tugged his hand free of the brown rope, with a look of utter revulsion that was enough to cripple every emotion in my body.

Without another word, he briskly ascended to the upper rooms, leaving me and my tears alone.

* * *

**Yui**

_That was close, Yui. That was close._ Indeed, the encounter was riskier than I liked to admit; I had not just broken the boundary, coming in close _proximity _with her, I had physically _touched _her. Any other alichino would have thought I actually wanted to kill her. But then again, any other alichino would have ended her life.

I had felt her smooth, thick hair too briefly; it would have been too easy to lay it there, unmoving…it was becoming to hard to fight the need for her.

Purposely I had ignored her hidden, yet blatant love. I did not offer praise often. Nor did I compliment. In fact, I complimented other maidens before her eyes, to deter her. That way - if she did not cherish me so - I could keep her company to my pleasure, without hurting her as I did now.

But that was an increasingly difficult task to complete. Without thinking, I was edging nearer and nearer to the fragile beauty that I sought only to possess. And that was a selfish mistake to make.

Because I could not know myself well enough; I could not know which would prevail -

**My overwhelming love for the girl, or my crushing desire to devour her heart.**

* * *

**AN:** Hello I wanted to do a fanfic about Yui, one of my favourite characters, because he doesn't appear very much. The next chapter could possibly become quite graphic, so I may have to up the rating (probably). The part that follows after _that_ is written in Ryoko's point of view. The next Alichino story I do, I want to include Enju - because he's too nice! He is a darling. And eventually, I would like to do a RyokoxMyobi, or even...dare I say it - a RyokoxTsugiri (seeing as how I like them, whereas I don't like Myobi . ) And I'm odd like that. 

Oh well, toodle-pip x


	3. Diseased

**Yui**

There she was! My little honey-bee, diverting from the hive to grant me her nectar. Sweet bee, how lovely you look! For a moment I paused, and time paused with me. The maiden stood by the door, Dinah nearby - bowing respectively - and a tiny knot of panic was forming in my stomach; _what was her name?! _She began to approach me now, with both a fearful and polite caution as I calmly tried to locate her name among all the other pretty discords I had collected.

Beatrix! That was it; another Beatrix.

"Good evening, my dear Beatrix," I intoned graciously, offering my hand to her. A blush; so utterly predictable.

"And you, Lord Yui," she said quietly, with an ill-formed bow. I eyed her dress discretely - such a filthy colour. A pity, really.

"My, what a beautiful gown you have donned this fine night. I hope you do not go to all this trouble for me?" This is me being modest, if you can believe that. Beatrix's blush darkened in her embarrassment, and I felt her small quivering hand clench within my own. I allowed that to be her answer. "Come," I said, "Come sit by me." I patted the gap on the double silk-covered seat - coloured lively a dark ocean blue - next to where I sat.  
Obediently, the girl did as she was told. After Dinah had fetched the wine, I dismissed her for the evening. The maid made her way past Beatrix and I, slowly and silently so as not to disturb us - and I little reluctantly, I knew. That made me smile, in my perverse way.

"Lord Yui? Lord Yui, are you feeling quite well?" I blinked myself from the stupor that had settled so quickly, like dust, over me. I was still watching the floor where She had walked, still staring at the invisible traces her dainty feet had cast upon the stone.

"I have not felt well for aeons, and I probably will never feel joy again. Hmph, can you imagine how that feels? To have the shadows taunt you, the sun curse you, to have love strangle you and your own damnable instincts constrict around your very heart…?" The girl's face became a picture of confusion. I realised then what an ordinary girl she was. So plain, so sickeningly similar to everything and everyone else. How dull, how truly disappointing.

"I-I don't know what you mean…" she stammered, her tone regretful.

"No," I said quietly, not looking at her, "No, they never do."

**Dinah**

The girl from that particular night, Beatrix Gamble, had been a well-known girl from the city. Her father was a blacksmith, and a good one at that.

Lord Yui liked girls of any rank, daughters of any trade - as long as they were beautiful, I noticed.

I did not know her personally - I was rarely allowed to leave Yui's house - but I knew of her. No matter how well-acquainted we may or may not have been, it hurt all the same. For a time, I thought it would lessen over time, the pain that is. Oh no, it never did. Each time a new maiden arrived on our doorstep, another knife plunged into my chest; twisting and maiming my throbbing organ, draining what little hope it had. And when he took her hand! I swear, I nearly died!  
Well, that is not entirely true. If he were gazing at me however, with some strand of affection in his eyes, I would like to die that way. I would die happy, and be happy, forever.

That reminds me of my favourite memory. Although, I am ashamed to say that it was not even real, sympathetic readers. It was an illusion, a trick of my mind most assuredly as Lord Yui is still the most spectacular being on this Earth. But believe me when I say that it was the most dazzling dream I had ever had. Let me indulge myself for a brief moment as I describe to you that fantasy. I'll relive my bliss…

_I am lying in my bed. My body is hot all over, my nightclothes are damp with sweat. A fever, most likely. The light is bright as it glares into my room, onto me as I lay still - like the dead. I hear a darkly velvet voice, and I watch - shocked - as Yui draws my curtains closed, blocking the sunshine and inviting a comfortable darkness. A safe, familiar darkness. The lord sits on my bed, pressing his hand to my burning forehead._

"_Dearest Dinah," he whispers, "I absolutely forbid you from falling ill again." _

"_I am deeply sorry, milord. I am not sick, I can still attend to Lord Yui. Please sir, please do not terminate my service." My voice is weak. I begin to tremble as another feverish convulsion rattles through me._

"_Why would I do such a thing?" He gives an amused laugh, a rarity for my lord. "I do not intend to ever get rid of you. Until either you or I are deceased, you are my most trusted --" I raise my head so as to speak, but Yui pushes my back onto the bed, his touch gentle yet firm. "Sleep now," is all he says. So I try very hard to sleep. Sleep does not come - although I continue to persist, so that I may please my master, and I keep my eyes shut as if that will coerce slumber my way._

"_I am liar." Lord Yui! I am too drowsy to physically start at the unexpected noise, but my heart pounds in fright. I listen, inadvertently pretending a lack of consciousness. _

"_I am a liar, Dinah. I told you just moments ago that you would be in my service until either of our deaths. But I am far too selfish for that. Because if you die, Sweet, then I will have no choice but to follow you. And if I die, then I will just live inside you. Anything to ensure that you are forever mine, beautiful creature._

"_Although, you would undoubtedly be better off without me. That is an unquestionable fact. And again, I am too selfish! I cannot release you, even for the sake of your happiness. My greed, my aching ardour keeps you near. I am eternally your disease, my precious darling. Feel free to blame me any time, for dragging your life in my direction. But again - I will not unchain you from this destiny. I suppose I love you too much." _

_Lord Yui's hand applies a fond pressure to mine, before letting it linger there. My eyes flicker open at the feel of his skin, just enough to see his seraphic face inches from my own. His body arches over me whist his mouth delicately - almost carefully - brushes mine in a chaste caress. The hotness of his breath overwhelms me as his lips hover so close to mine, a smooth whisper escapes that perfect, smiling, mouth._

"_You can stop feigning sleep now. Pretend instead that I, your prince, has come to awaken you. That way, you can enjoy this better."_

_He kisses me again._

_This time, I kiss him in return._

_

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_**AN:** Bon soir, c'est moi - encore. I realise that in the last author's note from this fic, I said I would be including a Ryoko part. Well, that isn't going to happen. This story is writing itself, and it says no to that vein I was flowing through. Just so you aren't hopelessly expecting something like that to crop up XD. See that entire italicised bit above me, right there? I loved that . It's so cute. Writing it is fine, but it may read cheesily. Oh well, we'll soon find out. This story is a good one for a bit of character development I think; I like focussing on 'lesser' characters. In my opinion. Lord Yui needed more panels in the manga! Anyway, I will stop complaining and let you, beloved readers, do whatever you guys do (petty theft or highway robbery, I bet. Oh no wait, you're that guy I saw on TV the other day! I know what kind of stuff you get up to, sicko...) 


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